During the Second World War, Finland fought two wars against the Soviet Union: the Winter War (1939–1940) and the Continuation War (1941–1944). A population of over 400,000 exiles fled into Finland from territories ceded to the Soviet Union as a result of these wars, causing a sudden explosion in pupil numbers. Numbers soared again in the 1950s when the baby-boom generation reached school age. New primary schools had to be constructed quickly to cater for this sudden jump in demand. In 1946 the government passed a bill placing local authorities in charge of administering five-year lower secondary schools. In 1948 primary schools began serving hot meals to all pupils free of charge.

Jorma Järvi: Vuoma Primary School, Kittilä 1948/MFA

Under the old system, pupils had the option of applying for secondary school after completing four years of primary school. Food and materials were in short supply in the post-war years, as was painfully evident in the vegetable gardens that were cleared alongside the schoolhouse for teachers to grow their own food – and in the traditional pit-toilet outhouses that pupils were obliged to use.

Jorma Järvi: Kerava Coeducational School, 1947/MFA

After the war, small standard-type wooden schoolhouses spread throughout the countryside. In towns and built-up areas, a multi-storey saddle-roofed construction became the standard model for schoolhouses, typically located alongside a schoolyard or sports field. Adapting the typical 1930s Functionalist layout, the classrooms formed a self-contained unit, with the gym situated in a separate wing. A rich abundance of materials and detailing nevertheless softened the hard edges and stripped-down vocabulary of Functionalism. Smooth stucco was replaced by red brick or a combination of materials in the exteriors.